


Helping Hands

by Fiore_the_Dragoness



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Comfort, Comfort No Hurt, Developing Friendships, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship/Love, Gen, Other, References to Depression, also please tell me if I have grammar/spelling mistakes please, somebody help me I don't know how to format, writing exercise that got out of hand
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 03:38:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18357830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiore_the_Dragoness/pseuds/Fiore_the_Dragoness
Summary: A girl walks into a bitty shop and leaves with a best friend for life.Light mentions of possibly triggering topics (anxiety attacks and depressive symptoms) so beware if that's not your cup of tea.  "Reader" character is named and more or less an OC, (but one could argue that Reader characters already are OCs in a sense).





	Helping Hands

The girl looked around the small shop hesitantly. There were so many thoughts buzzing through her head and none of them were her own. This was a telling sign of an impending attack, but she continued to stand, rooted to the floor.

“Hello! Do you need any help today?”

Showtime, she thought grimly as she mentally prepared herself for conversation.

“That would be nice, yes. I came in to look for a bitty, but I’ll admit…I only saw a few varieties on a couple sites I visited. Your store, however, has far more than I was expecting.”

“Ha ha! I hear that a lot!”

She smiled brightly and, even through the cloud, the girl couldn’t help but to make her own more natural in response.

“So,” the girl continued, “Each bitty, as you’ve probably guessed, has their own personality just as you or I do. And, just to make sure, you’re aware that they aren’t pets, right?”

“I am. Besides…treating something that can speak in proper sentence structure and respond properly given the situation don’t deserve to be talked down to, yeah?”

“Right! OK, so classification matters are out of the way, might I ask what type you might be interested in?”

“Um…”

“Ah. Gotcha. Well, don’t worry because we have just the thing! Have you ever had your SOUL scanned?”

“Not…recently. I did when I was very little for education reasons but I’m well aware that the SOUL can change slightly as an individual matures.”

“Right again! Man, you’re a walking wealth of info!”

Surprised, she stuttered out a thank you despite attempting to demure in the same breath.

“Now I know you’re smart! The most intelligent are typically the humblest, in my experience. Now, would you be alright having yours scanned for matching purposes?”

“…Sure, why not?”

“Cool! Follow me to the back then!”

Pushing trepidation aside, the girl followed the associate behind the counter and into one of the back rooms. It was…cluttered inside. Boxes piled on top of each other semi-haphazardly and shelves filled with various shop-related paraphernalia lined just about every inch of space in the already somewhat cramped space.

“Here! This way!”

Apparently, there was more of the room than she had originally thought, as the shop hand had miraculously cleared a small pathway to a back corner. Approaching said corner, the girl saw a contraption she hadn’t seen in decades: a SOUL scanner. It must’ve been slightly out-of-date by now, due to how similar it looked from her school days, but it was familiar enough that she knew what to do. After the worker switched it on, the girl moved with an automated sort of resignation over to the target.

“OK. You know the drill, right? Try not to move and I’ll be done in no time!”

She shut her eyes and attempted to regulate her breathing as a bright light shone through her eyelids. Soon enough, the light dimmed and went out, machinery whirring to a standstill.

“All done! You know, you’ve probably got to have the prettiest blue SOUL I’ve ever seen! First INTEGRITY one too!”

INGEGRITY, huh? It used to have swirls of JUSTICE, KINDNESS, and PERSERVERENCE with small glimmers of DETERMINATION alongside the dark blues shining throughout. She didn’t feel particularly aligned with the element, but she supposed it worked. It was hers, after all. That had to count for something…right?

“So! I’d recommend looking at the Sansys, Baby Blues, 'Lil Bros, or Papys personally, but it’s up to you what you decide to pick. We also have some that are trained by therapists. Were those the ones you were thinking about?”

How did they…? Right, the scan. Darned thing.

“Yes, if at all possible.”

“Alrighty then! Right this way!”

Back through the clutter they went until they emerged into the main shop once again. She still couldn’t seem to catch her breath though. It was almost time for a break, but she just had to keep going a bit longer. Huh. Maybe she still had a bit of PERSERVERENCE left in there. On the way to the area marked “Therapy Bitties,” she felt a small tug. She paused. What…there it was again. Where? She moved without thinking, not noticing the worker pausing to smile softly and follow where the girl led. Before she knew it, there was a small pen in front of her. She knew there had to be others inside, but she could only stare into the bluish-white dots of a small skeleton that seemed to be just as surprised as she was.

“…hey. uh. what’s up?”

“The ceiling.”

“heh. real wise guy, huh?”

She shrugged.

Before she knew it, the little dude had disappeared. She wasn’t alarmed for more than a millisecond though: there was a slight weight on her shoulder directly after.

“You know, you gotta breathe sometime. Three in through the nose, three out through the mouth. You know that trick?”

She nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Yeah. C’mon. Take a breath…There ya go. Keep goin’. Yeah. Just like that…”

Somehow the little guy (or so she assumed from the quiet rumble next to her ear) knew just what to say and do; reaching upwards to carefully pat her jawline from time to time as it was what he could reach at the moment. Soon, her shoulders relaxed, her eyes lidded slightly, and she breathed much easier.

“Better, huh? Good. Glad I could help.”

She blinked, coming back to reality some.

“Hm? Oh. Yeah. Much better, thanks.”

He snickered, “no skin off my nose.”

“Huh. Well that’s a relief. Thought you were never gonna find your person, little dude!”

“Welp, glad I did,” the weight blipped from her shoulder to the top of her head and she was careful to not move too suddenly for fear of toppling the little fellow before he sat down. “Only had to wait…what? Six years?”

She cast her eyes over to the worker that seemed to materialize from behind her. 

“Something like that, yeah,” said worker replied to the small ‘hitchhiker.’

“Well, perhaps we should fill out the paperwork and make sure you get the essentials?”

“Please and thank you.”

For once, her smile actually seemed to reach her eyes, small though it was.

The group of three moved back towards the counter and, upon reaching it, the weight moved from her head to the countertop. Finally, the girl got a good look at who was to be her “partner in crime,” as some might say. He reminded her of one of the Sansy types, but he was…different. In a good way. He reminded her of the Cheshire Cat, especially considering his perma-grin. He noticed her look and grinned crookedly at her in return, revealing small but prominent fangs that spoke of a sly but charming nature at first glance. His features further solidified the character reference: a long white tail with blue stripes swished leisurely behind him, matching ears twitching to catch every bit of sound the room held. His outfit consisted of a plush-looking jacket that was blue with a white fur lining over a white sweater and black pants with blue accents. She briefly thought that he looked pretty stylish for such a seemingly laid-back guy.

“You gonna keep starin’ or are you gonna take me back to yours sometime today, Sweetheart?”

She started, words registering a moment later.

“Fine, Kitten. Mind passing me a pen?”

Payback was a cruel, but wonderful proprietor. Both were blushing slightly, but smirking and not backing down.

“Oh for Pete’s sake, here. Pen. Sign here.” They were smiling, so she was pretty sure it was meant in jest, right?

Little fella patted her arm and sent her an encouraging glance. Huh. Good reader. Good to have around for an aspiring psychologist. Maybe he’d teach her some tricks.

“There. Sorry for dawdling.”

They smiled, “It’s A-OK. Now, let’s pick out some items your buddy will need. Oh!”

They smack their hand to their forehead, shaking their head after.

“By the way, have either of you got a name for him? We have to have that in the paperwork. Also, what’s yours, kid?”  
Bitty and girl look at each other, laugh, and she starts off first.

“I’m ____, but everybody calls me Kat.”

“Heh. I’ve always liked Cheshire, myself.”

“Chesh for short?”

“Deal.”

They grin at each other.

“Geez, stop it. You two are already two peas in a pod! C’mon, I’ll show you what’s available.”

They chuckle as Chesh takes his place on Kat’s shoulder and they follow the shop hand to the racks alongside one wall that hold bushels of tiny clothes and other amenities for tiny folks to use. The associate starts by picking up a small cardboard box with holes and start filling it with things like blankets, a small med kit, a couple small containers apparently filled with things like “bone strengthening powder” and a multivitamin as well as (she blushed and Chesh hid in his hood) a heat suppressant. They also placed a couple “bitty ladders” into the carrier before handing it over.

“Here’s your starter set. Everything here comes with each Bitty, however, we have some other items that you might want to look at.”  
From there, the trio moves onto tiny items like dining sets and silverware (Kat picks up a decent sized set that Chesh seems to like the look of), tiny bathtubs (she balks at the $50 tag inwardly, but knows it will be invaluable and picks up a model that seems to be somewhere in between ‘basic’ and ‘extravagant’ and looks at a positively tiny shower liner. After ascertaining that it would likely be simpler to make her own, she leaves it after telling Chesh of her plans. He gives her a lazy ‘OK’ gesture and they move on.) Kat notices a pack of bitty sponges and goes to pick them up, but Chesh advises against it, saying that washcloths work just fine. She gives him a look, but gives up at his insistence.

Tiny dressers, closets, and beds are next (Chesh says just a dresser is more than fine and that he really only needs a mattress, but Kat won’t have him in anything but a proper bed. He acquiesces surprisingly easily after that. An adorably small, but simple set of drawers and a bed with a bitty-approved mattress goes into the carrier.

Clothes are next. Kat picks out a couple outfits Chesh points out and another blue jacket. She also puts a couple pairs of slippers and tennis shoes in the basket before moving along. She can make more clothes (or at least shirts and pants) later. (She thanks her lucky stars that her mom had taught her the basics and she improvised and stumbled into making decent things.) She also sneaks in a tiny backpack and something called “bone cologne” that smells pretty nice before going up to the counter. The worst of it was the bathtub (go figure), and the bedframe and dresser came in at $30 apiece, but it could’ve been much worse. As for Chesh himself, she pays her $30 copay and her insurance will take care of the rest of the $150 price tag. The assistant places a couple documents about Chesh, some business cards and shop coupons, and a bitty care manual (free of charge, honest!) into the pile of Chesh’s things and closes the top of the cardboard carrier before handing it over. After a few parting words, Kat and Chesh are left to their own devices.

Before leaving, Kat asks whether Chesh has anything that he needs to do or get before leaving for home. He pauses, pondering, and blips off elsewhere. She looks around for a bit before she feels his familiar weight on her shoulder again.

“Got everything?”

“Yep. Said goodbye to a few friends and picked up a few of my things. They’re already in the carrier.”

She doesn’t question how he did it, just smiles and turns to leave the shop.


End file.
